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  • Brightline (All Aboard Florida) Orlando - Miami FL FEC fka Virgin Rail

  • This is a forum for all operations, both current and planned, of Brightline, formerly All Aboard Florida and Virgin Trains USA:
    Websites: Current Brightline
    Virgin USA
    Virgin UK
This is a forum for all operations, both current and planned, of Brightline, formerly All Aboard Florida and Virgin Trains USA:
Websites: Current Brightline
Virgin USA
Virgin UK

Moderator: CRail

 #1487251  by Gilbert B Norman
 
Bonevalleyrailfan wrote:Mr. Norman, it is unusual I admit, at how far AAF (now known as Brightline in their legal filihgs) has come.
Here is confirmation of the new corporate name - Brightline Trains. LLC:

https://www.bloomberg.com/profiles/comp ... trains-llc" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 #1487957  by nomis
 
The new forum will be brought online soon, with topics moved and “shadow” copies placed I’m the original forums.
 #1488373  by Arlington
 
I was on the Beach Line 528 tollway in Orlando today and noted that the flyovers at Innovation Way seem to have left room for somebody to run a ROW straight under the interchange. Is that for HSR?
Dropped Pin
near Orange County, FL
https://maps.google.com/?q=28.450831,-81.171237" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 #1488426  by bostontrainguy
 
Arlington wrote:I was on the Beach Line 528 tollway in Orlando today and noted that the flyovers at Innovation Way seem to have left room for somebody to run a ROW straight under the interchange. Is that for HSR?
Dropped Pin
near Orange County, FL
https://maps.google.com/?q=28.450831,-81.171237" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I also checked Google Earth recently and you can clearly see where Brightline is going to go in many places. They are moving fast. The more interesting location question is how they are going to connect this new east-west branch to their existing north-south mainline.
 #1488459  by Arlington
 
MCO Terminal C (the new, empty rail hub) is open and has a Brightline field office. The parking, APM, and rail bridges are all there (I am sitting in the empty hall as I type).

The rest of C (international airport side) is still in the pile-driving stage)
 #1488512  by Gilbert B Norman
 
Hate to turn off the shower's hot water, BUT:

https://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/busines ... 4OqSoAGATM" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Fair Use:
..Total ridership for the first half of the year was 180,870, just 16 percent of the 1.1 million passengers Brightline told investors in December that it expected for the full year of 2018.

“They are lower than anticipated," said Stacey Mawson, director at Fitch Ratings, the only agency to issue a grade for Brightline’s $600 million bond issue. "But on the bright side, the trends do seem strong.”

In one caveat, Brightline’s projection of 1.1 million passengers was based on the service launching in late 2017. Brightline started carrying passenger in January, and Brightline didn’t ramp up its full schedule until early August, when its daily service went from 11 round trips to 16 round trips between West Palm Beach and Miami.

Fare revenue increased to $1.54 million in the second quarter, up from $663,667 in the first quarter. Brightline’s revenue for the first half totaled $2.2 million, just 9 percent of the $23.9 million in revenue it predicted for 2018.

The private rail service reported a net loss of $28.3 million for the second quarter, compared to a loss of $28.2 million in the first quarter.

Brightline reports its financial results because it sold bonds worth $600 million to investors in late 2017 to finance its service between West Palm Beach and Miami. Fitch rates the bonds BB-, a junk-bond grade that reflects “an elevated vulnerability to default risk.”….“There’s no compelling reason to believe it’s actually going to work,” said Matt Fabian, a partner at Municipal Market Analytics, a bond research firm in Concord, Mass.

Brightline seeks to raise an additional $1.15 billion to pay for its expansion to Orlando and possibly Tampa.
Once again, I'll be first to acknowledge that I have been sorely mistaken about the objectives of the initiative. It appears that they actually had the intent to operate passenger trains.

I'm not sure if they have yet floated the $1.5B issue to "build it out", but with the first $600M issue being deemed below investment grade, the larger is surely same. Both are or will be privately placed - and, absent a covenant within the Indenture, shielded from those prying eyes of Gannett and Gate House Media (new Post owners) reporters.

But I have learned that regardless of who is Florida's next Governor, Brightline (lest we forget, AAF has joined RAILPAX wherever...) will have friends in Tallahassee. For all anyone knows, "what if it flops" plans are being formulated how to best hide the public funding.
 #1488531  by Jadebenn
 
Gilbert B Norman wrote:Hate to turn off the shower's hot water, BUT:

https://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/busines ... 4OqSoAGATM" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Once again, I'll be first to acknowledge that I have been sorely mistaken about the objectives of the initiative. It appears that they actually had the intent to operate passenger trains.

I'm not sure if they have yet floated the $1.5B issue to "build it out", but with the first $600M issue being deemed below investment grade, the larger is surely same. Both are or will be privately placed - and, absent a covenant within the Indenture, shielded from those prying eyes of Gannett and Gate House Media (new Post owners) reporters.

But I have learned that regardless of who is Florida's next Governor, Brightline (lest we forget, AAF has joined RAILPAX wherever...) will have friends in Tallahassee. For all anyone knows, "what if it flops" plans are being formulated how to best hide the public funding.
I'm still withholding judgement. The initial projections assumed an earlier (and full) opening than what actually happened. With MiamiCentral opening much later than the rest of Phase I, and with the rest of Phase I opening later than anticipated, we're easily one-to-three months behind the timeline of the initial ridership projections. The investors clearly expected a "ramp-up" section of the rollout, and I believe we're still in it.

I also wouldn't discount the fact that the West Palm Beach - Miami segment isn't the system's whole extent. It's quite possible that the Orlando ridership was always intended to cover the losses of the initial segment.
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